It was the sisters' earliest meeting since a 17-year-old Venus beat 16-year-old Serena in the second round of the 1998 Australian Open.

Serena won the 2017 Australian Open final over Venus while about eight weeks pregnant, and from then on was inactive in singles competition until her opener at Indian Wells.

Venus achieved victory behind winning 81 per cent of Cirstea's second service points, leading her to six breaks of serve during the match.

Venus was too soolid today for Serena, who hit too 17 unforced errors only in the opening set. Serena returned to the tournament in 2015 and Venus a year later. Venus hit a sizzling victor down the line, and Serena momentarily gave her a look, like, "Where did that come from?"

"Who would have ever thought at 37 years old that you wold be back at the top of the mountain and playing this kind of tennis, what does the journey feel like to you?" the interviewer Krasny asked her after the match "Well Andrew I never go around talking about how old you are" she joked in reply. She has won both her matches in straight sets. You know, I'm getting there.

"I managed to get my feet going more, and managed to start playing more steady, and that paid off". But, after two straight-set wins at Indian Wells, a highly-anticipated and hoped-for showdown is happening. The announcement drew boos from fans, who expressed doubt that she was indeed injured. I think it's great for the sport and they have done so much already.

Venus Williams returns a shot to opponent and sister Serena Williams during the third round of the BNP Paribas Open tennis tournament at the IndianWells Tennis Garden in IndianWells, Calif., Monday, March 12, 2018.

Part of the intrigue of this particular matchup - besides the mix of sisterly bonds and competition - was how quickly Serena could regain her championship form.

"That's totally gone out of my mind", she said. "Seventeen years seems like forever ago". "We weren't sure if they're going to play as long as we hoped them to play".

"She gave me the trophy because I was so upset".

Danielle Collins also won her third round match, defeating Sofya Zhuk of Russian Federation 6-4, 6-4.

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